ON THE COVER; Ride, Rope and Wrangle

EVERY television viewer has seen that quick promo go by: "If you would like to be a contestant on 'Jeopardy'. . ." or, "If you have a funny home video . . . ." Some have even written down the address and sent in an inquiry, figuring nothing would come of it. That was Jared Ficklin's mind-set when he responded to one such pitch. But the commitment he was casually offering to make wasn't for a half-hour on some game show. It was for an eight-part PBS production called "Texas Ranch House," the latest in a group of historical reality series that has included "Colonial House" and "Frontier House."

Much to his surprise, Mr. Ficklin caught the producers' interest. "They just kept calling me back," he said. "Somewhere between the second and third call, I thought, 'Gee, I'd better go ride a horse to see if I like riding horses."'

Mr. Ficklin, who sits in front of a computer at his real-life job, was indeed chosen to spend most of last summer working a ranch in Texas circa 1867, no modern amenities in sight -- except for television cameras. This was no dainty historical theme park: the 15 original participants (some didn't last, others were brought in) did the real riding, real herding, real work. "If we didn't lift it, it didn't get lifted," Mr. Ficklin said. "If we didn't cook it, it didn't get cooked."

As Jody Sheff, executive producer for the series, described the concept, "Basically we just set up a historically accurate situation and let it rip."

Mr. Ficklin didn't have far to go; he's from Austin. Other cowhands came from all over: Vermont, New York, even England. They were in the employ of Bill Cooke, a hospital controller in California who moved to the ranch for the summer along with his wife, Lisa, and their three teenage daughters.

Having a hospital controller suddenly switch to a ranching career wasn't all that big a departure from what might have been encountered in 1867, Ms. Sheff noted: the disruption caused by the Civil War had left cattle roaming and breeding freely in the West, and when the war ended in 1865 many inexperienced people headed to places like Texas to round up some animals and try their hand at ranching.

Mr. Cooke said he was prepared for the challenges of running a new type of business; what he wasn't prepared for was the heat -- 100-plus on most days -- and what it does to a person's ability to think clearly. "I probably lost half my mental capacity due to that heat and being tired," he said. "There was no escape."

In the series, tempers sometimes get as hot as the Texas air. "You live your modern life with a lot more people," Mr. Ficklin said. "You're able to surround yourself with people you get along with." But on an isolated Texas ranch in 1867, avoiding those you clash with wasn't an option. "You can't discard these people as quickly, because it's not New York City, it's not Austin, Texas," he said. "You can't go out and pick up a new friend."

Maura Finkelstein, a graduate student in anthropology at Stanford, sounded as if she might have actually welcomed a few more clashes, but as the "girl of all work" -- essentially a servant for the Cookes -- she was, as she puts it early in the series, second only to the dog in the social order.

"It's amazing how long three months can feel," Ms. Finkelstein said. "This was the first time in my life when my sense of self and my voice and my opinions really weren't part of the conversation."

All of the participants had highs and lows during the experiment, but Mr. Cooke said that for his family, the lasting impact did not come from any single moment. "We did not grow apart, we grew together," he said. "And that was a process, it wasn't really a moment. That, for me, is really the crowning jewel of it all."

Texas Ranch House Monday to Thursday at 8 p.m. on Channel 13 and 9 p.m. on Channel 49